The use of sugar in foods.

Although the main reason for the use of sugar is its sweet taste, sugar has many other functions in food technology. The most important among these are that added sugar in foods acts as a sweetener, preservative, texture modifier, fermentation substrate, flavouring and colouring agent, bulking agent. The various methods of use of sugar are based on its physical and chemical properties. The replacement of sugar by the newly available sweeteners is difficult if the sweetness values or physical and chemical properties of the substitutes differ greatly from those of sucrose.